Online Dating
by wild-angel82
Summary: My version of what might have happened after Alex and Claire's date that Tess helped to set up using the magic powers of internet. C&A.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own those characters. I love them with my whole heart though!

Spoilers: Through episode 3.20.

**Chapter 1**

Claire McLeod felt like an idiot. Why in the world did she ever let her sister talk her into this? Sometimes Claire couldn't understand how her own mind works. But then again Tess she knew her sister and she knew that when Tess got even an inkling of an idea in her mind, there was not a force in the world that would stop her from realizing her outrageously ridiciculous plans. Setting Claire up for online dating was one of those things. It was beyond Claire how she got talked into this.

But she could have survived the idea itself, it wasn't that bad. The big deal was who turned out to be her date. It was none other than Alex Ryan! It was so ridiculous that she didn't know whether to cry or to laugh. How in the world could anyone think that they were a match for a date? This was just crazy and Claire couldn't help feeling like someone up there was playing tricks on her. Her and Alex on a date was an idea that would usually make her burst with uncontrollable laughter.

Nevertheless, here they were, having dinner together in a fancy restaurant, which is one of those things Claire never thought she would do in her life. But after both her and Alex got over the initital shock of realizing they were each other's blind dates, they decided to go along with the plan and have dinner as neither of them wanted good food to go to waste.

"So how is the food?" Alex suddenly asked, but as soon as he did, he came to a conclusion how ridiculous that question must have sounded. He and Claire has had tons of dinners together and not once the quality of the food seemed to be of any importance.

"It's really good." she answered looking at him a little bit nervously. But what kind of an answer did he really expect? He was eating the exact same food as she was and he knew her taste, so he knew she liked it. But somehow questions like that always seemed to work on dates, they got the conversation going. Not on this date.

Alex still couldn't believe that he was actually on a date with Claire McLeod. Well not on a real date, but it was as close to a real one as he would ever get and he knew that. He felt weird about the whole thing. Of course, they agreed to go and have dinner as mates, but there was just something wrong with the picture. For starters, they were out in a fancy restaurant. Hell, they were out period. Alex couldn't remember the last time him and Claire were out anywhere alone. It was always with Nick and Tess and people from Drovers Run. Rarely did they get the chance to go out just the two of them, even as mates. So that was one of the reasons this whole thing felt weird. And on top of that, Claire was wearing a dress. It was like the third time he has seen her wearing a dress, and they've known each other for 15 years. It was very out of character for Claire, but he didn't understand why, because she looked beautiful. Not that she usually didn't, Alex always thought she was pretty, but she hardly ever thought that she was beautiful. Tonight he did. The red dress and the delicate makeup that she was wearing only brought out her beauty.

"Is there something wrong?" Alex's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Claire's question.

"No, why?"

"Because you've been staring at me." she replied. "Do I have food on my nose or something?"

"No, no, no." he answered a little embarassed and after a short pause he asked. "So how do you like the food?"

"You just asked me that five minutes ago." Claire said with a laugh. "Are you sure everything is OK?

"Yes, yes, it's fine." he replied, a little mad at himself for letting Claire's beauty mesmerize him. 

For a couple od minutes there was a silence as they finished up their meals. Claire was the first one to speak.

"I just don't understand why Tess thinks that I have to get out more."

"I'm not sure more really applies here, as you don't go out at all." Alex joked.

"But I have a baby. And a farm to run. I can't just go out."

"Yes you can." he assured her. "Meg, Tess and everyone else will gladly take care of BOM and the farm. There is no reason why you can't go out."

"I know, but it just feels weird, that's all." she replied with a pensive expression on her face.

"It's only weird, because you don't do that very often."

"Maybe." she answered and there was another longer pause. Finally Alex broke the silence.

"I guess this must mean that the hell is freezing over." he said with a laugh, but Claire didn't seem to get his joke.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Oh don't tell me you don't remember." he said pretending to be really hurt.

"Remember what?" she still didn't seem to know what he was talking about.

"That this was your response when I first asked you on a date."

"You never asked me on a date." Claire replied refusing to believe that something like Alex asking her on a date could ever happen.

"Yes I did. When we'd been friends for a couple of months I asked yo out on a date and you said 'After hell freezes over.'"

Alex looked at Claire trying to notice in her eyes whether she remembered what he wa talking about. A couple of seconds passed until Claire exclaimed, almost afraid of what she was about to say.

"Oh my God, you're right! I did say that." she said and looked into his eyes to see what his reaction to her remembering would be. He just gave her his 'I told you so' look. Claire started laughing. "I cannot believe you remembered that!"

"Well it's not very often that a guy gets rejected in such a harsh way." he smiled. 

"I'm sorry I was so harsh on you Alex." she said and gently stroked his hand. For a second their eyes met and both of them realized that something really strange was happening. They weren't doing anything they haven't done before, yet it was all new anc exciting.

"I think I will get over it." he added with a smile.

"And it's not even a real date." Claire reminded him. "Just one of Tess's crazy ideas."

"Yeah." he said with a sigh. "One of Tess's crazy ideas."

"But it turned out OK." she said to make sure he knew she wasn't hating it.

"It did?"

"Yeah." she smiled as her blue eyes sparkled and for a moment Alex got lost in them. "I'm having fun."

"Yeah, me too." he replied. "So, shall we order dessert?"

"Yes we shall." Claire replied and Alex waved for the waiter. Claire looked around the restaurant and realized that she really was having fun. Sure, it wasn't her style and all, but Alex was her mate and they always had fun together. There was no reason to feel any different this time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It was almost midnight when Claire decided that he and Alex should call it a night. Yes, she was having a good time, but she also missed her daughter and was a little bit tired from all the work that she insisted on doing. Plus she wanted to get up early to do some more work.

"So I guess this is it." Alex said as they were standing in front of Claire's ute.

"Yeah, I guess." she smiled and opened the door.

"Are you sure you want to go alone? I could drive you if you want. That's what a guy is supposed to do on a date anyway." he winked at her.

"Yeah, on a real date." she winked back and got into the car. "Thanks for tonight Alex, you're a great mate."

"You're welcome." he replied and before Claire closed the door, he added. "Oh and by the way..."

"Yeah?"

"You look..." he took a deep breath. "You look beautiful."

Claire didn't know whether to blush or laugh at his comment. She gave him the 'Give it a rest' look, but she did respond "Thank you." and for a second they just kept looking at each other. "Well, it's getting late." she finally broke the uncomfortable silence. "So goodnight."

"Goodnight." he responded and went to get his own car. Claire started the engine, but it took her quite a while until she finally drove away. It sure has been a strange night. Her and Alex on a date. Well not a real date, nevertheless a date. There was definitely something different about the time they spent tonight from what they usually do. Maybe it was the surroundings, the fancy restaurant, the ridiculous in her opinion outfit. She didn't know exactly what it was, but she felt that something weird was happening.

When she pulled up at Drovers she was hoping that everyone was going to be asleep, but of course no such luck. As soon as she entered the house, she saw Tess quietly running down the stairs with an overly excited look on her face.

"Hi _mom_." Claire sighed. "You didn't have to wait up."

"So, how was it?" Tess asked before Claire even managed to put her purse on the table. She sat at the kitchen table and decided to ignore her sister's question. "Claire?" Tess repeated and sat in front of her.

"Did I tell you that I'm talking to you?" Claire said pretending to be mad at Tess. She still was a little bit, but not to that extent. She did decide to torture her sister a little bit. "Besides what makes you think I will tell you anything?"

"Oh come on Claire." Tess begged. "Please, please, please. Tell me about the guy! Was he handsome? Was he dreamy?"

Suddenly Claire's desire to torture Tess became less and less stronger as she realized that her answered to both questions would be 'yes.' She jerked her head at how ridiculous that was. And of course there was no way she was telling Tess.

"I don't know, but you were the one sleeping with him a while ago, so why don't you tell me!" Claire finally retorted and left Tess puzzled to say the least.

"What?" she asked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about my date. Thanks to your stupid stupid plan I was forced to go on a date with Alex!"

"Alex?" Tess couldn't believe what she was hearing. "As in Alex Ryan?"

"Do we know any other Alexes?"

"I guess not." Tess replied and suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"It's not funny!" Claire insisted, but Tess couldn't stop laughing. "Stop it!" Claire demanded, but Tess couldn't help it.

"I can't believe I set you up on a date with Alex." she said in between the laughs. "This has got to be one of the weirdest things ever."

"No, that's one of the stupidest things ever." Claire said and suddenly started laughing as well. This really was crazy. Alex Ryan, of all people!

"It just proves that you two are perfect for each other." Claire almost chuckled and sent Tess an 'Are you crazy?' look. "Oh come on." Tess continued. "Of all the guys that you could have met Alex turned out to be your match. Doesn't that say something?"

"Yes, it does. It says that this was a stupid idea and I'm not taking any part in any of your stupid plans anymore." Claire got up and headed towards the stairs. "Goodnight Tess."

"Did you at least have fun?" Tess asked curious. "And didn't Alex get a heart attack when he saw you wearing a dress?" she said jokingly.

"Very funny." Claire meant to sound harsh, but the truth was that she was kind of amused by the whole situation and by this little conversation she was having with Tess. "Like I was saying - goodnight Tess." she said and left the kitchen. Tess caught up with her on the stairs.

"But you will tell me everything in the morning, right?" Tess pleaded.

"There is nothing to tell, Tess." Claire went up the stairs and into her room where Tess followed her. "Alex and I had dinner and now I'm home, end of story. And now excuse me, but I have to change." she put her hands on Tess's back and pushed her out of her room.

"Goodnight Claire." she heard from behind the closed door as she sat on her bed. It has definitely been a strange evening. She hated Tess's online dating idea as it was, but to run into Alex Ryan as her date! She certainly didn't expect it and she didn't know what to think about it. She never imagined herself and Alex in a date scenario. They've known each other for years, they were mates, they've done so many things together. But dating? That's one thing that never occurred to her and it probably never would have if it wasn't for their date tonight. A date that wasn't really a date anyway. So why was she feeling all weird and not herself.

'If I wake up tomorrow and start wondering if he will call me, I'm getting myself checked into a psych ward.' she thought to herself as she began to take off her dress.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Alex woke up in the morning and it took him a few seconds to remember where he spent last evening. The memory of having dinner with a dressed up Claire brought a huge grin to his face. Just remembering her smile and her sparkling blue eyes made the world seem so much brighter. He was quickly brought back to reality by a loud knock on the door.

"Alex!" he heard his brother's voice through the door. "Are you up?"

"I am now." Alex answered a little annoyed that his nice thoughts about last night got interrupted by Nick. "What do you want?"

"I need some help out here! I can't run this place on my own."

"Just give me ten minutes." he replied and reluctantly got out of bed. He knew he needed to help Nick, but on the other hand he wanted to take a moment to remember how beautiful Claire looked last night. Her eyes, her smile, everything.

'I have got to stop this.' he thought. 'This is Claire. That's not the way to think about Claire McLeod.

" Finally!" Nick greeted Alex when he got out of the house. "I thought you were gonna spend the whole day there."

"I'm sorry, I got distracted a bit."

"A hot date last night, huh?" Nick asked jokingly.

"Kind of." Alex replied still not being able to erase the image of Claire smiling.

"So who's the lucky lady?" Nick was curious.

Alex smiled at the question and said. "Claire."

"Claire." Nick repeated. "As in Claire McLeod?"

"The one and only." Alex winked at his brother.

"I'm supposed to believe that you were out on a date with Claire?" Nick laughed. "She would rather eat raw meat than go on a date with you." Nick continued teasing his brother, but Alex was less than amused.

"Very funny." he said and continued. "Well she didn't exactly know that she was meeting me for dinner."

"How come?"

"Let's just say that it was kind of a blind date."

"Kind of a blind date? Who set you guys up?" Nick asked and Alex involuntarily looked towards his computer. "Don't tell me that you..." Nick stopped for a moment and looked at his brother's embarrassed expression that said it all. "Oh my God, you did! You used an online dating service to get a date!" he started laughing. "I can't believe this. Alex Ryan couldn't get a date, so he had to use internet to do it."

"I didn't have to use internet, I just happened to want to expand my horizons."

"Yeah, right." Nick chuckled. "I never thought I would live to see a day when Alex Ryan can't get a date.

"Oh would you cut it out already! With you even internet wouldn't work!" he retorted, but Nick was too busy laughing at his brother to fully grasp that comment.

It was later that day and Alex was alone at home as Nick went to town for some supplies. He had been working an entire day, so he finally decided to take a break and rink some cold beer. He took one out of the fridge and sat at the kitchen table. But as soon as he took his mind off of work, he started thinking about Claire again. He started remembering everything about the way she looked the previous night and finally he started wondering if maybe he should call her. Which was weird, because he never had to wonder whether to call her, he just did. But now for some reason he got all nervous about it.

'You idiot.' he thought to himself. 'It's just Claire." he tried to convince himself as he picked up the received. He dialed the number and soon he heard her voice on the other end.

"Drovers Run." she said. "How can I help you?"

"Hey Claire, it's me." he said, still a little bit nervous.

"Me who?" she teased.

"Haha!" he tried not to sound amused, but really he was.

"So what can I do for you Alex?" she asked and that simple question made him almost speechless. Why was he suddenly so nervous talking to her on the phone? It was weird, she was Claire. But for a couple of seconds he didn't say anything. "Alex, are you still there?" she inquired.

"Yes, yes, I'm here. I was just wondering how you were?" he said and realized how ridiculous he sounded.

"I am fine Alex, thank you. How about yourself?"

"I'm fine as well." he answered and laughed to himself at how incredibly weird that conversation was going. He was sure that Claire thought he was an idiot.

"Anything else?" she asked when another couple of seconds passed.

"I was wondering..." he stated, but wasn't really sure if he was going through with it. What if she says no, what if she laughs at me. This is ridiculous!

"You were wondering?" she tried to get him to talk, because he wasn't doing that great of a job with it.

"I was wondering if maybe we could do something tonight?" There, he finally said it. Now what would be her reply.

"Sure. The girls and I are planning a game of pool later, feel free to join in." Now that was not the answer he expected, but he realized that he didn't form his question in a very clear way. Of course she would think he meant hanging out as friends, why would she think otherwise.

"Well, actually I was kind of hoping it would be just the two of us?" he finally said it and waited for an outburst of laughter or other reaction like that.

"Why?" she asked and it took her a couple of seconds to realize what was going on. "Oh my God, Alex Ryan, are you asking me out on a date!" she almost screamed and knew that if he wasn't, he will have something to tease her about for the rest of their lives.

"If I was, would your answer be any different from what it was back then?"

"Well are you?" she didn't give up. She wanted him to say it, so that she can have something to torture him about.

"You know what, to save myself from further embarrassment, how about we don't call it a date, let's just call it a an outing."

"An outing?" Claire asked and couldn't stop smiling.

"Yes, an outing. Two friends having a meal together."

"But we do it all the time Alex." she said confused.

"Yes, I know. But this time there will be no other people with us and I will pick you up. So it won't be something we do all the time. But it also won't be a date." he said and took a deep breath. "Soooo... What do you say?"

"Hmmm, let me think." she replied and took a couple of seconds. "An outing you say?"

"Yes."

"Well then I guess I could probably say yes to that." she smiled at the idea of her and Alex going on an "outing."

"Does tomorrow night work for you?"

"I believe it does. 7 o'clock?"

"Perfect." he smiled to himself and sighed with relief. "It's da... I mean an outing then."

"Yes it is." she smiled "So if it's not a date I don't have to wear a dress, right?"

"I guess not." he said a little disappointed, but he knew she would be wearing that incredible smile that almost makes his heart stop.

"See you." she said and before she hang up she added. "Oh and Alex, I won't sleep with you if that's what you're trying to achieve."

He laughed. "I didn't really think about it, but now that you mentioned it..."

"Goodnight Alex." she finished the conversation and hang up.

"What's with the grin?" Claire suddenly heard her sister's voice.

"What grin?"

"Your grin. Why are you grinning?" Tess was intent on finding out the reason of Claire's good mood.

"I am not!" Claire tried to get out of it, but she couldn't stop smiling.

"So what happened? Did you win the lottery or something?"

Claire didn't feel like talking to Tess right now, but she knew that her sister wouldn't leave her alone until she finds out. She knew Tess, she was gonna follow her around everywhere trying to find out what was going on.

"I just got asked on a da... I mean an outing."

"An outing?" Tess laughed. "And what exactly is an outing?"

"I don't really know, but it's not a date." she said, as if trying to convince herself that what she was saying was true. She wasn't yet sure though whether she did indeed want an outing to be any different from a date.

"And who are you going on that outing with?"

Claire took a deep breath before she responded. She looked at Tess and knew that this was going to be funny. "Alex." she finally said and watched Tess interested to see what her reaction would be. At first Tess didn't say anything, but when it finally dawned on her what Claire said she exploded.

"Oh my God, you have a date with Alex!" she almost shouted.

"It's not a date!" Claire insisted.

"Oh yeah, whatever." Tess replied and started pacing around nervously. "I have to tell someone or I'm gonna go crazy." she blurted out and at the same time Meg and Jodi entered the kitchen. Claire looked at Tess meaningfully.

"Don't you dare!" she warned her, but Tess couldn't help it.

"I'm sorry." she said and turned to Meg and Jodi. "Claire is going on a date with Alex!" she shouted and Meg and Jodi looked at Claire a little bit stunned.

"No, I am not!" Claire disagreed.

"But you just told me." Tess said excitedly.

"I told you it was not a date." she shifted her sight to Meg and Jodi. "It's not a date." she said quickly and left the kitchen. Meg and Jodi looked at Tess questioningly.

"It's so a date, isn't it?" Meg asked as she knew exactly what was going on. She saw it in Claire's eyes, that short moment was enough for her to tell.

"Yes it is!" Tess seemed to be very enthusiastic about it. "It is soooo a date, even if neither of them wants to admit it."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Remind me why did I ever agree to let you do this?" Claire asked as Tess started to brush her hair.

"Because I'm your sister and you love me and you know I'm gonna make you look beautiful for your date with Alex."

"For a gazzilionth time, it is not a date!"

'"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot, your outing with Alex." Tess replied pronouncing the word 'outing' as clearly as she possibly could. She figured she would let Claire figure out on her own that this really was a date. For now, she decided to let Claire live in her little fantasy world in which she was not going on a date with Alex Ryan.

"Do we really have to do this?" Claire was getting impatient.

"Yes we do." Tess was determined to make Claire look beautiful.

"But I look fine."

"Yes, you do. You look fine, but it's not a da... I mean outing fine."

"What's the difference? Fine is fine." she wasn't sure she was ready to trust Tess with her hair and her makeup.

"When you go out, you have to look... finer." Tess said with a laugh.

"That's not even a word." Claire joined Tess and started laughing.

"Whatever. The point is that it is my duty as your sister to make you look absolutely fabulous for your outing."

"Oh would you stop saying it like that!" Claire was getting annoyed.

"Like what?" Tess asked, but she knew exactly what Claire was talking about. She just decided to drive her sister a little crazy before her date.

"I'm so not letting you do this ever again!" Claire laughed and finally gave in to Tess's efforts to make her look beautiful.

It was about an hour later and Claire was finally ready to go out.

"You look really amazing." Jodi raved as Tess finally let her, Meg and Becky see the final product of her efforts.

"You look really great." Becky agreed and smiled at her boss.

"Why you won't wear a dress is beyond me, but suit yourself, I give up." Tess sighed and sent her sister a meaningful look.

"You know I hate dresses and there is no reason I should wear one tonight. And I'm wearing pants that are not jeans, which is a huge step forward. Besides, this is just a casual..."

"Outing!" all four of them said in unison and they started laughing.

"You still look very nice." Meg smiled at her. "Alex is one lucky guy."

Claire smiled back at Meg and at the very same moment they heard Alex's voice. "Anybody home?" he asked as he entered the kitchen. His eyes almost instantly looked for Claire's. She looked at him and smiled weakly. She wasn't wearing a red dress like she was the last time, but she still looked beautiful. Yes, not pretty, but beautiful. "Ready?" he asked as he extended his hand.

"After you." she took his hand and they left the house. When they got into the car, she asked curious. "So where are we going?"

"Well I know this place in Gungellan..."

"Please tell me we're not going to the pub." she cut him short and looked at him with the look that said 'Because if we are, I'm getting out."

"Don't worry." he smiled. "We're not. I believe the idea of our venture was to do something that we don't normally do. And that is why I am taking you to this new place that just opened a couple of weeks ago. It's not as fancy as the last one, but hey, it's not even a date, right?"

"Right." she smiled uncomfortably as she watched him drive. There was something about him that she hadn't noticed before, but she couldn't quite identify it. Maybe it was the little spark in his eyes or the way he kept looking at her every once in a while, as if making sure that she was still there. Yes, there was definitely something different about Alex Ryan and Claire was determined to find out what it was.

When they finally stopped in front of the restaurant, Alex was a perfect gentleman and he got out of the car and opened the door for Claire. It shouldn't surprise her, because he has always been a gentleman with her, or at least most of the time, but she never really paid that much attention to it. That was just the way he was. But now suddenly she started liking that about him, which felt weird to say the least.

"So this is it." Alex said as they entered the restaurant. "I know it's not very fancy and all, but I like it and I thought you might like it too.

Claire took a look around. The place sure wasn't as fancy as the one they went to the last time, but there was some familiarity about it. Alex was right in thinking that she would like it. She did.

"Well, it's better than the Gungellan pub, that's for sure." she said with a laugh as they walked to their table.

"I hoped you would like it better." he smiled.

"Oh I do, trust me." she said sitting down.

"Nick and I discovered this place by accident one day when we came to town and the pub was closed."

"The pub was closed? I thought it never closes." she said with a laugh.

"I think it was some kind of emergency or something."

"Yeah, only that would explain it." she said with a smile and suddenly started remembering all the times that she and Alex spent together at the Gungellan pub. Having dinner, drinking, shooting pool, even dancing sometimes, in other words everything that mates do. She wasn't even aware of this huge grin that spread across her face.

"What are you thinking about?" Alex asked curious.

"Us." she replied quickly, although the way it came out scared her a little bit. She didn't mean in that way. She didn't mean to imply that anything of romantic sort might be going on between them.

"And what exactly are you thinking about?"

"Just stuff." she blushed a little and hoped he wouldn't notice, but he did. "I was thinking about how we always have so much fun together. No matter what we do, it's always fun." she finished off and looked into his eyes. For a moment they just stayed like this as neither of them felt any need to say anything. Finally Alex spoke.

"Well, there are a lot of things I like about you too."

"Like what?" she asked, very interested in what he had to say.

"For example I love how brave you are. Running a farm all by yourself."

"I'm not by myself, I have great people who help me." she smiled at the thought of Tess, Meg and everyone else who kept helping her at Drovers Run. Those people were her family now.

"I know, but still. It took a lot of courage to do what you did. I'm proud of you, Claire. We all are." he ended and it was so obvious that he was telling the truth. He was so proud of her and admired her for everything that she was doing to honor her father's memory.

"What else do you like about me?" she asked, trying not to get too emotional at the thought of her father.

"I like how you're always right even if you're wrong." he said with a smile and Claire kicked him under the table.

"Hey, I am always right." she said jokingly.

"Yeah, especially when you're wrong." he added.

"I think that discussion is over." she said firmly. "Now let's order before they kick us out of this place."

"Yeah, let's." he said and looked at Claire like has never looked at her before. Here she was, this beautiful, smart, feisty woman sitting right in front of him. Why didn't he notice those things about her before? Why didn't he see how amazing she was? Well he did always know that she was amazing, but amazing can probably have more than just one interpretation.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When Claire and Alex pulled up at Drovers, Claire suddenly started feeling like she was 16 egain and was just coming home from a date with a really cute boy. She looked at Alex and smiled at the possibility of characterizing him as cute.

'What?" Alex asked a little confused, but Claire had no inention of telling him what was going on inside her head.

"Nothing." she replied still smiling and once again started looking at Alex with an unidentified affection.

"OK, you have to stop looking at me like that. You're scaring me Claire." he said, still a little bit confused and not sure what was hiding behind Claire's mysterious glance.

"I'm sorrry, does that bother you?" she decided to tease him for a little while.

"Well, usually when a woman looks at me with that much intensity, it's because she wasnts to get some lovin'"

"God Alex, you are so full of yourself! And here I was thinking than you can be a gentleman for a couple of seconds." she said and looked at him with reproach, but he knew that she was just joking. And she knew he wasn't totally serious about the lovin' thing either.

"OK, then let me make it up to you." he suggested after a while. "I will walk you to your door."

"But I thought that only happened on dates, and if I remember correctly we are not on a date." Claire reminded him, as if trying to make sure he didn't get any ideas.

"Yes I know, but I have to make up for my comments that you did not appreciate." he said in a serious tone, but Claire couldn't stop laughing anyway. "You really are cute, Alex." she said remembering her previous thoughts.

"What?" of course he didn't have a slightest idea of what she was talking about.

"Nevermind." she siad still laughing.

"You're a mysterious woman, Claire McLeod."

"Yeah, mystery is my second name." she winked at him and opened the door. "So, are you walking me or not?"

"Yes, yes, of course I am." he jumped out of the car, but didn't manage to get the door open for Claire anyway. "I was supposed to do that." he looked at Claire meaningfully.

"I am perfectly capable of opening the door for myself." she stated.

"That's not the point Claire and you know it." he looked to be a little hurt, but of course Claire knew that he was just pretending to tease her. She sent him a 'Get over yourself' look and started walking towards the house. He soon followed her and when they reached the door, they stopped for a moment, looking at each other a little bit uncomfortably. That is not the way all of their previous "outings" used to end. There has never been any nervousness, no wondering what to do or what to say. They always seemed to know exactly how to behave in each other's company. But this time it was different, and even though neither of them wanted to admit it, they both had a pretty good idea of why they felt the way they did. And as much as they wanted to deny or fight those feelings, some things are just the way they are and you can't do anything about them.

"So that was a lovely evening, Ms. McLeod." Alex finally spoke as he extended his hand towards her.

"It sure was, Mr. Ryan." she smiled as she took his hand to shake it. As soon as she did, a shiver ran through her entire body. Alex felt it too and looked into Claire's eyes, but she slowly removed her hand from his grip. She was this 16-year old girl again and Alex was this cute boy and for the first time in a long time Claire McLeod had no idea what to do. She just wanted to go inside the house, wake up the next morning and go back to the way things were before. Before this ridiculous bind date, before this whole outing and before Alex stopped being just Alex.

"Goodnight." she whispered quickly as she put her hand on the doorknob.

"Oh and Claire?" Alex called before she managed to open the door.

"Yeah?" she turned around.

"I know it's not a date, but there are things that you don't need dates for." and with that he leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. It happened so quickly that she didn't even have time to think about it or get freaked out or show any kind of "before the kiss" reaction. Instead, she just felt his lips pressing softly against hers and she couldn't deny how wonderful that felt. She always thought that her and Alex kissing would be weird and uncomfortable, but this didn't feel weird at all. On the contrary - it felt right. More right than she could ever imagine.

"Oh my God." she finally pulled away as the fact how right it felt suddenly started scaring her.

"Oh my God what?" Alex looked puzzled. "'Oh my God he bit my lip' or 'Oh my God his breath is terrible' or 'Oh my God I can't believe he calls himself a good kisser?'"

She coudn't help but laugh at his last remark. "Oh my God, what are we doing Alex?" she suddenly asked, terrified of all the conflicting emotions that were running through her head. This was Alex, her mate, her best friend. Someone she said she would date after hell freezes over. And yet kissing him felt so right, so in sync with everything that has been going on in her life.

"Well I thought we were kissing." he answered. "But apparently I didn't do it right, or you wouldn't be looking at me like that."

"It's not you, Alex." she whispered softly, still a little out of breath.

"It's me and what I'm about to do right now."

"You're not gonna kill me, are you?" he pretended to get really scared. "Come on, the kiss wasn't _that_ bad."

"Just shut up Alex" he poked his shoulder playfully and before he could say or do anything, he felt her lips on his again. It was the most wonderful feeling. He wasn't a saint and he has kissed a lot of girls before, but with neither of them has it felt like this. Like the earth started spinning and the stars started shining twice as bright and like the whole world was watching the two of them in awe. Alex couldn't believe they've waited so many years for that. Who knows, maybe if she had said yes to his first invitation all those years ago, he would have got to do it sooner. But who knows if it would have felt equally amazing. Although he wasn't sure if amazing even began to describe the way he was feeling right, the way she was making him feel. And he knew she felt that too, he could see it in her eyes. This was the real deal and they both knew it.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Claire woke up the next morning with the strangest feeling. For a short moment she thought that the previous night was just a dream, but then she realized that it couldn't have been. It was too real to be a dream. She started remembering everything from that night - Alex picking her up, their dinner, the drive home and finally the kiss. The kiss that left her totally speechless after Alex went back to his car. The kiss that made her feel the taste of Alex's lips on hers long after they parted. The kiss that made feel like she was falling and flying at the same time. The kiss that probably ruined her friendship with Alex, but hopefully was the start of something even more beautiful.

Her dreamy thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

"Claire, wake up!" she heard her sister's voice and a second after Tess stormed into the room. Claire looked at her alarm clock, it was barely 4:30 and she didn't plan on getting up for at least 15 more minutes.

"What is it Tess? Is the house on fire? Because if it's not, I still have a couple of minutes to sleep."

"Yes, I know, but before you get yourself lost in your chores, I need to talk to you abou t last night." Tess said excitedly and sat on Claire's bed. "Because I saw you, you know?" she added with a devilish smile.

"Yes, I know you saw me, we live together."

"No, but I mean I _saw_ you." Tess repeated saying 'saw' for at least 5 seconds. But Claire still didn't seem to realize what Tess was talking about.

"Can you be a little more specific? I'm not in the mood for mind games."

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

"Yes please."

"Alright." Tess took a deep breath and for a second studied the expression on Claire's face. "I saw you and Alex kissing last night!" Tess exclaimed almost in one breath.

"Oh that." Claire said as if Tess was talking about choosing which boots to wear and not about her kissing Alex Ryan.

"_Oh that_?" Tess was genuinely disappointed in her sister's reaction. "That's all you have to say? Come on Claire, you kissed Alex!"

"I know Tess, I was there. Plus it's not that big of a deal, it's not like _you_ haven't done it. You know what it's like so there is no reason why I should be telling you anything about it." Claire answered sleepily and turned her head to stop facing Tess. But Tess wasn't going to give up that easily as she quickly jumped to the other side of the bed.

"Oh come on Claire, you know it's different."

"How is that different?"

"Me and Alex...We were just fooling around, you know? It was fun, but there was never really a spark between us, you know? With you guys it's different, it's the real deal. I can see it, everyone can see it. It's surprising it took you and Alex that long to see it."

"You and your romanticism Tess." Claire shrugged.

"But it's true, can't you see it? You guys are perfect for each other."

"Goodbye Tess." Claire said meaningfully as she covered her head with a pillow.

"But at least tell me about the kiss." Tess started shaking her sister. "Please Claire, I'm dying here."

"And just what do you want me to say?" Claire looked at Tess from under hear pillow. "That I felt the earth move and heard birds singing and saw the stars?"

"Well did you?" Tess asked enthusiastically and awaited Claire's response.

"Yeah, I did." she said a couple of seconds later with a big grin on her face, although she realized how cheesy that must have sounded.

"I knew it!" Tess exclaimed and headed for the door. "I told you, it's fate." she winked at Claire and ran out of the room as she saw Claire's pillow flying straight at her.

"You're crazy!" Claire shouted after her, but wasn't sure if he could hear her. It took her another couple of minutes to get dressed and go down to the kitchen for breakfast. Tess, Meg, Jodi and Becky were already there.

"It's about time." Meg said with a smile.

"Come on, I'm not _that _late." Claire replied sitting down.

"Oh you know I'm not talking about." Meg smiled even more and looked at Claire meaningfully.

"OK, so has anyone NOT see me kiss Alex last night?" Claire asked trying to sound annoyed, but even she couldn't help but find this situation a little bit funny.

"Well, I'm not sure Roy did." Jodi joked and everyone except for Claire started laughing.

"I am very glad that I could be of so much entertainment to all of you! I feel very needed. Did you get popcorn?" she asked as she finally gave in and started laughing along with everyone else. "So what do you guys think about this? Me and Alex I mean? And I'm not saying that there is a me and Alex, but if there ever was..."

"Well I think it's great." Jodi was the first one to speak up. "I mean I like you, I like Alex, so there is no reason not to like the two of you together."

"I agree, if anything _was_ to happen between the two of you, I couldn'be happier." Meg added as she took Claire's hand in hers.

"You already know what I think." Tess kissed her sister on the cheek.

"Yeah, yeah, I do, no need to listen to _that_ again." Claire gave her sister a loving look and started eating. "And no need for me to starve because I kissed Alex Ryan." she added and everyone else started laughing again.

"So you and Claire, huh?" Nick still couldn't believe that Alex and Claire finally started to give in to their long hidden feelings.

"Yeah well, things happen." Alex said with a sigh and smiled at a mere memory of Claire.

"Well this one has been happening for like like 15 years." Nick laughed as Alex poked him on the shoulder.

"You laugh all you want, but I'm still gonna be happy." Alex replied and looked at Nick in a way that let him know that no matter what Nick says or does, it was not going to make him stop feeling the way he felt.

"There goes your boyfriend." Tess almost sang as she saw Alex's ute pulling up at Drovers.

"He is not my boyfriend!" she insisted and suddenly felt like she was 15 and was bantering with her little sister abut boys. Well in a way she was doing that, except that she was not 15 and Alex was not a boy.

"I'd better leave you two alone." Tess raised her eybrows playfully and disappeared into the shearing shed.

"Hey you." Alex approached Claire, but wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to greet her, so he just kind of kept his distance from her.

"Hey yourself." she greeted him with a smile.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Actually I had a nightmare. I dreamt that this really horrible guy took me out to dinner and then kissed me."

"Like this?" Alex took her hand and pulled her close for a kiss. She responded to it immediately.

"Yeah, like this." she grinned. "And it's funny, because you look exactly like him."

"Do I?" he asked in between kisses.

"Yes, you do." she said giggling. "And now let go of me, because I've got work to do." she tried to leave, but Alex wouldn't let go.

"I'll let you go under one condition." he said looking into her eyes.

"And what would that be?" she decided to play along.

"You have to agree to go out with me." he said tightening his grip.

"Go out with you? Like on an outing?" she asked stressing the last word.

"No, more like on a date." he suggested and patiently waited for a reply.

"After hell freezes over!" she blurted out happily as she broke away from his grip. She looked at him meaningfully and started walking away.

"So pick you up at 7?" he called after her.

"Make it 7:30." she called back and with that she was gone. He smiled to himself as he knew that she was the woman he wanted to argue with for the rest of his life.

THE END


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